Wondering and wandering on the way to wisdom.

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Questions at the door

A candidate running for office came to my door yesterday. A sheep-clothed wolf? I wondered. There was no identification of party affiliation on his literature or in our talk. Having a well developed gift of knowing what to say hours after any encounter is over, I pondered this morning on questions I should have asked in order to learn his real philosophy of governance.

What is his opinion on gun control and the abortion issue? His stance on these two questions would tell much more than appears on the surface. Not that I am into concealed carry or keep a pistol under the pillow, nor do I have an embarrassing pregnancy, dealing with an awkward baby bump.

Those two issues are the outward incendiary battle points of a divisive fundamental philosophy: who knows what is best for life, the individual or the collective? Underlying that question is a deeper one: how important is the individual life, anyway? If the collective (read: the state) is of greater value than the individual, which individuals then shape the decision making, choosing what is best for the rest? If the collective runs rough shod over the individual, is that a higher good if the collective so deems it?

It is the collective that says killing is bad, but it is good to execute murderers and babies in utero. Being of a split brain, the collective says it knows better than the individual, while at the same time maintaining the right of the individual who wants to abort.

Meanwhile, the pro-life people who strongly believe in the individual versus the state, want the state to pass laws prohibiting abortion on demand, thus showing they are split-brained as well.

The bedrock dividing point is the value of life. The individual is either of paramount value or each human is simply a higher form of lemming marching to the sea. Value is derived from a greater entity who has declared it so. Therefore it seems to me that to believe that life is without value is to declare there is no God. The only way the collective can be a work for good is if the individual units that comprise it believe in the sanctity of each life. “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” Scripture states. This is the only way a collective will work – yielded to the guidance of the Lord who is over all.